The present invention is related to a carrier for a motor-vehicle roof, of the type comprising:
a bar, having end portions and a longitudinal guide rail provided at least along each of said end portions, PA1 two bar supporting legs, which are to be supported on a roof of a motor-vehicle with the bar arranged transversally to the longitudinal direction of the motor-vehicle, each of said legs being slidably mounted within said guide rail, PA1 control means associated with said bar for controlling a movement of each of said legs along said guide rail, PA1 wherein said legs are to be mounted on two longitudinal guides secured to the motor-vehicle roof and are made in form of outer clamping jaws adapted to engage the outer lateral surfaces of said longitudinal guides, said carrier further comprising a pair of inner clamping jaws respectively cooperating with said outer jaws and adapted to engage the inner lateral surfaces of said longitudinal guides, so as to lock the bar on said longitudinal guides. PA1 each inner jaw is pivotally mounted to the respective outer jaw between an opened position and a clamping closed position, PA1 between each outer jaw and the respective inner jaw there are interposed spring means tending to hold the inner jaw in its opened position, PA1 said control means comprises an actuating member associated with each end portion of the bar, which is slidably mounted within said guide rail and is adapted to press against the respective outer jaw when it is moved towards the respective end of the bar, and against a portion of the respective inner jaw when it is moved towards the center of the bar.
Carriers of the above indicated type are disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,570 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,042 (FIGS. 7, 8) and in WO-A-96 25 306 (FIGS. 7-10).